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The Great Trials Podcast offers a series of laid-back, casual conversations with leading trial lawyers, taking listeners "behind the scenes" of America’s greatest trials. Hosted by acclaimed trial lawyers Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey, each podcast episode focuses on one important trial and includes in-depth, insightful interviews with the attorneys who successfully argued the case in front of a judge and jury.
Episodes
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview Matt Cook of Cook Law Group, LLC (https://www.cook-lawgroup.com/) and Ronny Hulsey Smith Hulsey Law (https://smithhulseylaw.com/).
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Guest Bios:
Matthew E. Cook
Matt grew up in Northeast Georgia the son of a single mom. While he and his mother had very little worldly means, they had grit, determination and a commitment to decency and fairness. Matt’s upbringing gave him a healthy respect for hard work and for standing up for the underdog. Matt spent three years working in cotton mills and other manual labor jobs before graduating college and attending law school. After graduating law school, Matt joined a nationally renowned trial lawyer firm where he spent six years as an associate and five years as a partner handling a broad range of complex, catastrophic injury and death cases across the United States ranging from trucking collisions to product liability claims and everything in between. Matt is a frequent speaker at trial lawyer seminars, has published numerous articles and has served as an expert witness in several cases. Matt is an aviation enthusiast and has his private pilot's license. Matt’s unique style, genuine empathy, ability to relate to juries and fearlessness has led to hundreds of millions of dollars of recoveries for clients. Matt has secured more than $225 million for clients in just the past 10 years.
Ronny Hulsey
Early in his career, Ronny defended big insurance companies at large law firms before devoting his practice solely to helping injured people win claims against insurance companies. Ronny focused his legal education in insurance law, graduating second in his class, magna cum laude from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, where he was elected to Law Review, inducted into the Brainerd Currie Honor Society, and won the Guerry R. Moore Insurance Law Award. Recruited by Georgia’s top insurance defense firms, Ronny learned what insurance companies fear and what makes them pay fair compensation to injured parties. Recently, Ronny received state-wide recognition for obtaining a $1 million recovery for a high school track coach struck by a truck while jogging with her students. He recovered ten times the available policy limit after the insurer refused to treat his client fairly. More recently, Ronny represented a pedestrian who was killed when a vehicle left its lane on I-985, and recovered over $1.9 million for the victim’s family.
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Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
This week we’re replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview Bill Stone of Stone Law Group (https://www.stonelaw.com/).
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Case Details:
Former Georgia Plaintiff’s Lawyer of the Year Bill Stone of Stone Law Group in Atlanta explains how he secured justice for Shannon Trabue, an expectant mother with pre-eclampsia who suffered irreversible brain damage due to medical malpractice. Two Atlanta Women’s Specialists’ doctors failed to regulate Shannon’s blood pressure, despite knowledge that pre-eclampsia patients pose a high risk of blood pressure-induced seizures, and failed to manage her fluid levels. As a result, Shannon suffered cardiopulmonary arrest, resulting in permanent brain damage and physical disabilities due to an extended period of time without oxygen. A Fulton County, Georgia jury delivered a $45.8 million verdict, including $9.8 million in economic loss and $18 million in compensatory damages for Shannon.
Guest Bio:
William 'Bill' Sims Stone
Bill is a trial lawyer from Blakely, Georgia, who specializes in personal injury, wrongful death, professional malpractice, product liability, commercial and consumer fraud cases. The firm’s predecessor was founded in 1915 by Bill’s grandfather, the late Wm. Lowrey Stone. Past members of the firm include Bill’s father, Lowrey S. Stone, who formerly served as Chief Judge of Superior Courts, Pataula Judicial Circuit.
Bill was born in Dothan, Alabama, on August 19, 1953. He attended the public schools in Early County, Georgia and graduated from Early County High School in 1971. He attended the University of Georgia College of Business Administration and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a major in accounting on graduation in 1975. Bill also attended the Netherlands Institute of Industrial Economics near Amsterdam in The Netherlands in 1973.
Bill received his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1977. He was admitted to practice law in the state of Georgia in 1977 and in the state of Alabama in 1985. He is also member of the bars of the United States District Courts for the Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia, the Middle District of Alabama, and the Central District of Illinois, as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.
The publishers of the Martindale Hubble Law Directory have awarded Bill its highest rating (AV) for legal ability and integrity.
Bill is a Life Member and past president of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and is also a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, the Alabama State Bar, the American Association for Justice, and the Southwest Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
Bill has served on the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission that recommends candidates to the Governor for appointment to vacant judgeships in Georgia. He has authored a number of published articles and is a frequent lecturer at legal seminars on the subject of trial practice and tort law.
Bill is a past president of the Blakely Rotary Club, and a member of the First United Methodist Church of Blakely.
Bill has five children, Ryals, also a member of Boone & Stone, Katie, James, John and Andrew.
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Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview T. Gabe Houston of The Trial Lab (https://thetriallab.com/).
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Case Details:
In June 2013, Thomas Joseph (“Joey”) Soulliere was riding his recently-purchased motorcycle down a public road. Suddenly, a driver in an SUV pulled out of a parking lot directly in front of him. While the situation was dire, Joey certainly had sufficient time to brake so as to avoid the SUV. Unfortunately, Joey’s bike, a 2009 Suzuki GSXR 600, contained a defect within its Front Brake Master Cylinder (a defect which had been known for years by its designer and manufacturer, Suzuki Motor Corporation) which resulted in sudden and complete front brake failure. Having no front brake, Joey violently crashed into the SUV. His injuries included fracture of his right femur, right patella, and left foot. The patella injury was severe, requiring multiple surgeries (including for burst ligaments and infection). Joey also developed orthopedic injuries in his right shoulder and lower back, and continued to have chronic pain in his legs for years. (Source)
Guest Bio:
Gabe Houston
Gabe Houston is the founding member of The Trial Lab Corporation (Formerly Houston Law of California, PC), a law firm devoted to enthusiastically representing aviation-related disputes as well as compassionately helping injured people. In personal injury matters, our job is to help injured people realize their brighter futures. The Trial Lab helps innocent injured victims who have been hurt due to the carelessness of others. Our clients have suffered a catastrophic personal injury, typically by defective products, dangerous properties, or other negligent people, or have been injured on an airline or by a doctor or hospital. The Trial Lab also represents clients in cases involving Qui Tam/Whistleblower matters. T. Gabe Houston has complex trial, arbitration, mediation, and negotiation experience. The Trial Lab and its trial attorneys have successfully tried and arbitrated multiple complex cases to verdicts in the areas of aviation litigation, product liability actions, personal injury, medical malpractice, and as well as defending wrongly charged or accused criminal defendants. The Trial Lab has also represented pilots against regulatory agencies such as the FAA and NTSB as well as representing clients in securities and commodities regulatory and administrative litigation.
Gabe Houston and Caroline Blanco originally founded the law firm Houston and Blanco in 2008. Gabe and Caroline married, and Caroline left the practice of law to be the bedrock of a growing household. Gabe continued the practice as Houston Law of California. In 2012 Gabe suspended the solo practice when he was recruited to join a prominent medical malpractice firm where he used his trial knowledge and litigation experience to represent innocent victims of medical malpractice in suits against negligent physicians and health care providers. In 2018, Gabe returned to solo practice to stay focused on helping injured victims of catastrophic personal injury, defective products, dangerous premises, and airline injuries. Gabe is a long-time member of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA). Gabe was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of OCTLA and was on the Executive Committee, where he served as Parliamentarian through First Vice President before pivoting to bi-coastal trial practice.
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Tuesday Jun 20, 2023
Tuesday Jun 20, 2023
This week we're replaying a classic episode where your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Michael A. Kelly of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger (https://www.walkuplawoffice.com)
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Episode Details:
Accomplished California personal injury lawyer Michael A. Kelly, a shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and recent Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame inductee, shares how he secured justice for the first of thousands of victims of a defectively designed medical device. On December 5, 2007, U.S. Air Force veteran Loren "Bill" Kransky underwent hip surgery in Montana, receiving a DePuy ASR Acetabular Hip System orthopedic implant. DePuy, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, first put the ASR Acetabular Hip System on the market in Europe in 2004, and soon after began receiving notifications from prominent surgeons that the device was flawed. Despite receiving these notifications, DePuy continued to market the metal implant as a low-wear product that required only one surgery and failed to report product issues to American doctors. On August 4, 2010, a recall was issued and the Depuy ASR Acetabular Hip System was labeled as defective, but the damage was already done for millions of patients, including Loren. Following the recall, Loren underwent revision surgery to have the implant removed because it was shedding metal debris into the tissue of his hip and bloodstream. In March 2013, a Los Angeles jury returned a verdict in favor of Loren, awarding $8,338,136.12 in damages for the pain caused by the defective design and ultimately helping to facilitate a $2.5 billion national settlement for all victims.
Click Here to Read/Download Trial Documents
Guest Bio:
Michael A. Kelly
Mike Kelly is one of the nation’s top personal injury attorneys. For four decades he has protected consumers from corporate greed, medical mistakes, dangerous household products, unsafe medical devices, and motor vehicle accidents of every kind. He has tried, settled, and arbitrated more than 200 cases where the recovery by his client exceeded $1 million. In 2020 he helped negotiate the multibillion-dollar resolution of the 2017 California wildfire lawsuits brought against utility giant PG&E. Before that, his $8.341 million verdict in the first DePuy ASR/Johnson & Johnson metal-on-metal artificial hip litigation helped produce a $2.5 billion national settlement for all victims.
In 2021 Mike was the number one vote-getter for the second year in a row on the 2021 list of Northern California “Super Lawyers”. A member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates, Kelly was also included on the “Top 10” and “Top 100” list of lawyers in Northern California for the 18th time, as well as being selected by Best Lawyers to its prestigious roster for the 20th consecutive year. Recognized for his leadership in some of the most significant consumer protection cases in our state, Kelly made the list of the Los Angeles Daily Journal’s 2021 Top Plaintiff Lawyers and was inducted into Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame for his many years of pro-consumer successes, most recently demonstrated by his role in the litigation against the giant utility PG&E for the damage caused by the 2017-2018 Northern California wildfires and the devastating Butte County Camp Fire.
When resolution by mediation or settlement fails, Kelly is ready to take his clients’ cases before juries. Recent trials have produced a $4 million jury verdict against the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District for the death of a pedestrian struck by one of its buses, a $5.6 million jury verdict against a Super Shuttle driver for the death of a retired restaurateur, a $12.75 million recovery against a domestic automaker(auto rollover), a $10.5 million settlement for the wrongful death of a single mother, and a major 8-figure confidential settlement against Kaiser Health Plan for a catastrophically injured infant. His $8.35 million verdict on behalf of a construction worker who lost an arm showed his skill in work-site injury cases. His $23.2 million jury verdict in a birth injury medical malpractice case in Minnesota ranks among that state’s largest verdicts for obstetrical injury.
Beyond stellar results for his clients, Kelly is proud of his many contributions to the legal community. He is a speaker for 360 Advocacy for whom he chairs its annual Trucking Litigation program. He teaches regularly for NITA, The Rutter Group, ABOTA, the Consumer Attorneys of California, AAJ, SFTLA, and the Bar Association of San Francisco. He served for 10 years as the Director of Teacher Training programs for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and remains a member of its Board of Governors. He has long been active in protecting the rights of the underrepresented, working for pedestrian and bicyclist safety, lobbying for compensation fairness for medical malpractice victims, and protecting the rights of the LGBT community.
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Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview Brian Beckcom of VB Attorneys (https://www.vbattorneys.com/).
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Case Details:
The crew of the Maersk Alabama was attacked and taken hostage by Somali pirates. The events were depicted in a Hollywood blockbuster called “Captain Phillips” starring Tom Hanks. Brian and his firm countered a massive Hollywood publicity campaign that portrayed Captain Phillips as a hero and the crew as lazy layabouts, when in fact the exact opposite was true. The case resulted in a confidential settlement for each crew member. It also changed the way the shipping industry provides security to the men and women who travel in dangerous, pirate-infested waters
Guest Bio:
Brian Beckcom
Brian Beckcom is one of the leading lawyers of his generation. Brian's peers have voted him a Texas Super Lawyer 14 years in a row, and every single year he has been eligible. Brian is also a Board Certified Expert in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a recognition shared by less than 2% of lawyers.
Brian has obtained hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients, and he and his law firm have obtained record-setting settlements and verdicts in a wide variety of significant legal cases.
Brian is also a Computer Scientist & Philosopher. He created and hosts the popular podcast "Lesson from Leaders with Brian Beckcom."
Brian is a military "brat," a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a single-digit golfer, a former college basketball player at Texas A&M, a four-year member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, and an accomplished freshwater and saltwater fly fisherman.
Brian is an honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He is the author of 6 books and hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics.
Brian has successfully prosecuted many high profile cases. The national and international media has covered Brian's work on these complex cases.
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Tuesday May 23, 2023
Tuesday May 23, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview Bob Cheeley of Cheeley Law Group, LLC (https://cheeleylawgroup.com/).
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Guest Bio:
Robert D. Cheeley
“I’m just a small town country lawyer” is the way Bob Cheeley refers to himself. Having grown up in Buford, Georgia in the 1960’s and 1970’s, Bob grew up wanting to help people, just as his parents, Selma Medlock Cheeley and his father, Joseph E. Cheeley, Jr. modeled for him. Bob’s mother would never miss the opportunity to help out a family in need with a meal, clothing and Christmas gifts. Mrs. Cheeley served on the Buford City School Board during integration of the schools when Bob was in middle school. Bob’s father, Joe, was a lawyer in Buford for over 60 years after graduating from the University of Georgia in 1952. While in law school, Joe would earn money as the Sanford Stadium announcer on game days. Joe also served as State Court Judge in Gwinnett County for 20 years.
Bob grew up driving tractors and working on the family farm. Later, Bob worked in his father’s law office in the summers during college and law school. It was during this time that Bob realized his calling to become a trial lawyer with a desire to help people who had been wronged, either to their person or their business.
Like his father, Bob is a “Double Dawg,” having achieved two degrees from the University of Georgia, a degree in political science in 1978 and his Juris Doctorate from the School of Law in 1982. Bob has been advocating for the rights of Georgia residents who have sustained serious and catastrophic injuries his entire career. Bob has also represented business owners who have been the victim of breaches of fiduciary duties by a partner. Bob is the founding member and the managing partner of Cheeley Law Group, LLC, located in Alpharetta.
Over the course of his career, Bob has secured over six hundred million ($600,000,000) dollars in jury verdicts and settlements. Most of these have been against insurers and publicly traded corporations, including trucking companies which caused injuries and deaths on the highways. Bob has also achieved justice for people who have suffered catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, due to automobile product defects in vehicles manufactured by companies such as General Motors, Toyota Motor Company, Suzuki Motor Company, Nissan Motor Company, and Ford Motor Company, among others.
One of the most notable cases which Bob tried with his former law partner is Moseley vs. General Motors which resulted in a verdict of $105 million dollars in Atlanta in 1993. The subject vehicle was a 1982 model Chevrolet pickup truck equipped with two “side saddle” fuel tanks, located just inside the sheet metal on each side of the truck. Bob tracked down a former GM fuel system engineer named Ron Elwell who was retired. Moseley aired live on Courtroom TV and is recognized throughout the nation as a landmark win which advanced automotive fuel system design safety.
Some of Bob’s other noteworthy cases include three settlements totaling $45 million against US Xpress trucking company arising out of a tragic collision in 2015 I-16 when one of its tractor trailers ran into the rear of two vehicles carrying seven Georgia Southern nursing students, resulting in 5 deaths and 2 injuries. Only one of those cases went to trial, Richards vs. US Xpress, which involved a mild traumatic brain injury and PTSD suffered by the plaintiff. The defendants’ insurer, AIG, was intent on saving as much of the remaining policy limits as possible and offered only $1 million before trial. The jury returned a verdict of $15 million.
Bob has other notable wins at trial including a $4o million dollar verdict against Toyota when the highest offer pretrial was $10,000.
Bob is licensed to practice in Georgia, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bob has been a long-standing member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice. He also served as a board member of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group. Bob also serves on the board of directors of The Piedmont Bank in Peachtree Corners, Ga.
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Tuesday May 09, 2023
Tuesday May 09, 2023
This week we’re replaying a classic episode where your hosts Steve and Yvonne interview Bibi Fell of Fell Law, PC (https://www.fellfirm.com/).
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Case Details:
California trial lawyer Bibi Fell, a founding partner at Fell Law, PC and a partner at Athea Trial Lawyers, shares how she successfully represented a breast cancer patient who fell victim to the beliefs and unconventional cancer treatment of a New York Times bestselling author masquerading as a licensed doctor. Plaintiff Dawn Kali was diagnosed with treatable Stage 1 breast cancer and rejected traditional treatment options in favor of the "Father of the Alkaline Diet" Robert O. Young's "pH Miracle" approach, which focused on making the body less acidic and more alkaline. This process involved costly extended stays at Young’s Rancho del Sol in Valley Center, California and expensive intravenous treatments that consisted of little more than baking soda. Unable to pay, Dawn worked for Young in exchange for treatments that were ultimately ineffective. After much time had passed, Dawn went to an oncologist and was diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 cancer that had spread to her spine and femur. At trial, Bibi Fell demonstrated that Young’s "pH Miracle" treatment was neither scientifically nor medically sound. In spite of the defense's claims that Dawn was aware that Young was not a licensed medical doctor and that she was not prevented from seeking conventional medical treatment, a San Diego jury found in favor of Dawn for her claims against Young of intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, false promise and negligence. In October 2018, the jury awarded Dawn a $105,356,000 verdict, including $15 million in punitive damages.
Guest Bio:
Bibi Fell
Bibi represents plaintiffs who suffered catastrophic injuries or the death of a loved one. She is the Founding Partner of Fell Law, PC, in San Diego, California and is a Partner at Athea Trial Lawyers, a nationwide plaintiff’s firm comprised of six prominent female trial lawyers.
Bibi is one of the few women attorneys to have received a verdict over $100,000,000.00 as lead trial counsel. Bibi is a National Board Member for the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Membership is extended by invitation only to lawyers who have demonstrated extensive trial experience, civility and professionalism. In 2018, Bibi was one of three finalists for Consumer Attorneys of California’s “Consumer Advocate of the Year,” Consumer Attorneys of San Diego’s “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award and received the “Outstanding Trial Lawyer” award and “Outstanding Advocate” award from Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. In 2020, she received the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award from Pepperdine Law School. Bibi has also been selected to be a member of Lawdragon 500, The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Trial Lawyers, the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Women Lawyers, and has been selected as a Top 50 San Diego Superlawyer and Top 25 Women Superlawyer.
Bibi gives back by teaching Advanced Trial Advocacy at the USD Law, serving as the program director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Pacific Deposition Skills program, and teaching trial skills through NITA around the country and internationally. Bibi devotes her time to serve as a “Parent Partner” to parents of children newly diagnosed with Hepatoblastoma, a malignant liver tumor found in young children.
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Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview Bill Atkins of Warshauer Woodward Atkins (https://warlawgroup.com/) and Bill is joined by the plaintiff in the case, Mr. Mark Tuggle. A podcast first!
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Guest Bio:
William J. Atkins
Bill Atkins represents clients in medical malpractice, wrongful death, and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has developed unique expertise representing children injured or killed in daycare facilities, victims of sexual abuse in youth service, religious or academic institutions, and victims of excessive force by law enforcement officers. He is also a certified mediator and arbitrator.
Bill began his career prosecuting felonies and misdemeanors in Douglas County. He transitioned to civil practice in 2000 and has earned a reputation as a tenacious trial lawyer. He has secured multiple six and seven-figure verdicts and settlements for his clients in employment discrimination, civil rights, medical malpractice, and other catastrophic personal injury cases.
Juries have returned multi-million-dollar verdicts in all of Bill’s medical malpractice cases. Bill has also secured multi-million-dollar settlements for his clients in commercial trucking cases, sexual abuse of children by a volunteer in a youth services organization, and the family of a little girl who choked to death in a daycare center.
Bill is a member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s Executive Committee. He is a GTLA Champion and PAC member. Bill has given seminar presentations on a variety of topics including medical malpractice, non-emergency medical transport, auto and trucking, trial techniques, employment discrimination, and police misconduct.
Bill volunteers his time to serve as co-director of the Walton High School Mock Trial Program. Each year, he recruits lawyers to help teach high school students the fundamentals of trial practice. The team has finished in the top 3 in the Region every year, won a District championship, and earned a spot in the State tournament 2 times, including a run to the final four in 2021.
Bill lives in Marietta with his wife, Kathleen, and Puppy, a delightful 15-pound poodle mix. He has four stepchildren scattered around the country and enjoys frequent visits with them. He plays golf, enjoys sailing, and wastes far too much emotional energy rooting for various sports teams.
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Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
This week Steve and Yvonne interview Natalie Woodward of Warshauer Woodward Atkins (https://warlawgroup.com/) and Dax López of DelCampo Grayson Lopez Attorneys at Law (https://dglattorneys.com/).
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Guest Bios:
Natalie Woodward
Anyone who meets Natalie Woodward feels like they have known her their entire life. It is this ability to put people at ease that makes her such an effective trial lawyer. Natalie secured a $77.7 million psychiatric malpractice verdict in September 2022 for the Carusillo family who’s son was forced out of a mental health facility without his medication in 2017. Watch the News Nation interview about the case.
In 2010, she tried her first jury trial as lead counsel in a wrongful arrest case and secured a $1 million verdict which is the largest verdict of its kind in Georgia history. In 2021, she was interviewed about this trial. https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-e8jnd-101dc94
Her cases have made international and national news including her fight to protect the rights of children on social media. https://youtu.be/cfGYpv8iKIE
In 2014, she argued before the Georgia Court of Appeals to obtain increased protection for children targeted on social media. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-court-of-appeals/1680364.html Natalie has also led the fight to secure justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Natalie is a proud native of Powder Springs, Georgia and is a venerable “Double Dawg.” She received undergraduate degrees in Journalism and Political Science from UGA and then graduated from UGA Law in 2002. While in law school, she was a member of the 2001 Champion Intrastate Moot Court Team, President of her Second Year Class and Chair of the Moot Court Board.
Natalie serves on the Executive Committee for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and the Bench and Bar Committee of the State Bar of Georgia. She has been recognized by her peers as one of the best lawyers in the State for the past six years and was selected as one of the Best Young Lawyers in Georgia by Atlanta Magazine.
Dax López
For nearly 11 years, Dax served as a judge on the State Court of DeKalb County where he presided over complex criminal and civil matters. As only the second Hispanic judge on a court of record in the history of Georgia, Dax was known to be an efficient, fair, and just jurist who earned the respect of lawyers and litigants alike.
A native of Ponce Puerto Rico, Dax attended Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt Law School where he was an editor on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and the president of the Vanderbilt Bar Association. After law school, Dax served as the law clerk for federal judge Hector M. Laffitte in the Federal District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Dax was a trial lawyer at three prestigious law firms in Atlanta specializing in complex civil matters, business litigation, product liability, and employment law.
Throughout his legal career, Dax has received numerous recognitions. Dax has been named as one of the Top Fifty Industry Leaders by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, as among Georgia’s Legal Elite by Georgia Trend magazine, and as a Rising Star in 2009 and 2010 by the SuperLawyer Magazine. In 2010, Mundo Hispanico named Dax to be the Funcionario Destacado del Aňo. In 2011, Dax was named by Georgia Trend Magazine to be among the best and brightest 40 Under 40 and by The Fulton Daily Report to be among those in the legal profession who were “On the Rise.” He is also the recipient of the Justice Benham Community Service Award.
Dax served on the Board of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials for 15 years, and as President of the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association from 2006-2008. He is also a past president of the Cooper Inn of Court. Currently, he is a Trustee on the Board of Leadership Georgia, a member of the Board of Councilors for the American Jewish Committee, and a member of the Anti-Defamation League’s regional board. He is also a member of the State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors and a member of the Standing Committee of Interpreters.
In 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Dax to a vacant seat on the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Unfortunately, Dax did not receive a hearing in the U.S. Senate and his nomination expired at the end of President Obama’s term.
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Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
This week we’re replaying a classic episode where Steve and Yvonne interview Mike Haggard of the Haggard Law Firm (http://www.haggardlawfirm.com/).
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Episode Description:
Best Lawyers of America’s 2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year Mike Haggard of The Haggard Law Firm explains how he secured one of the largest single personal injury verdicts in Florida history on behalf of Lorri and Lonnie Hinton, the parents of 2-year-old Loren “Tookie” Hinton. Loren suffered irreversible brain damage, leaving her unable to walk or talk after she nearly drowned in an apartment complex pool. The six-foot-deep pool was enclosed by a broken gate that the complex’s staff knowingly delayed fixing, without notifying tenants of the danger it posed to children. A Broward County jury assigned 99% of the blame to 2331 Adams Street Corporation and 1% to Loren’s father Lonnie for a lapse in supervision.
Guest Bio:
Mike Haggard
Compassionate, empathetic and a fervent advocate for victims of crime, Michael Haggard has dedicated his career to the pursuit of justice on behalf of his clients in the courtroom securing unprecedented awards and as an activist who continuously lobbies for permanent solutions and changes through local, statewide and federal legislation. Specializing in pool drowning, negligent security, wrongful death, unsafe premises, and products liability, Haggard has established himself as a powerful force in the South Florida Legal Community as the Managing Partner for The Haggard Law Firm. After spending time as a Public Defender and working with a small personal injury firm before joining The Haggard Law Firm, Haggard was named a partner in 2001, secure in the belief that every case holds equal importance and could mean the opportunity to award a family resolution to a devastating incident.
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